A common fault with many hard surface cleaners is that they either have a powerful cleaning performance or good material compatibility. It is rare to find these two characteristics in parallel. With kitchen and bathroom hard surface cleaners it is particularly important to get both of these characteristics in one product. For these products it is important to avoid lime build up while concurrently removing body and/or skin fats, soap, or general soil without corroding surfaces.
Removal of greasy soils in wash rooms is especially important in resort areas such as can be found in southern Europe in tourism areas such as in Spain and Portugal or in the Mediterranean or in the Caribbean where sunscreen removal in bathtubs, shower basins, or wash basins creates cleaning problems. With the advent of “water resistant” and “water proof” sunscreens has arisen a unique soil that has become problematic when trying to clean hard surfaces. Once these “water proof” or “water resistant” creams or oils are removed from the skin, they cling tenaciously to the other surfaces. These other surfaces include hard surfaces found in a bathroom and textiles such as towels. A cleaner would desirably readily remove such tenacious soils yet leave low residue on hard surfaces such as glossy tiles or shiny surfaces to prevent smear effects.
As already mentioned, the hard surface cleaner must remove greasy soils but must also be compatible with the surfaces. In hotel restrooms there are many acid-sensitive materials such as marble, terrazzo, granite, metal sanitary fittings fashioned out of brass, copper, stainless steel, chrome, aluminum, and the like, enameled ware, or various plastics such as polymethylmethhacrylate and polycarbonates that must be considered when choosing a cleaning compound. While a hard surface cleaner needs to be tough enough to remove the tenacious soils created from body lotions, creams, and oils, it must also be gentle so as not to damage these often expensive surfaces found in bathrooms and kitchens alike.
It would be desirable to have a hard surface cleaner with better general cleaning ability, less residue, reduced skin irritation, excellent material compatibility and improved rinsing behavior. This composition would be suitable to remove tenacious sunscreens and body lotions found in hotels in warm weather resorts. Finally, the composition would optionally include a biocide active ingredient to claim sanitizing or disinfectant properties against bacteria according to EN 1240.
Thus, there is real and continuing need in the art for improved compositions that are useful in the cleaning of surfaces, particularly hard surfaces, and more particularly in providing degreasing abilities. There is a real and continuing need in the art for improved hard surface treatment compositions which provide a cleaning benefit and which overcomes one or more of the shortcomings of prior art hard surface cleaning compositions. Particularly, there is a need for further improved hard surface cleaning compositions which are provided in an ultra-concentrated format, are miscible with water, are provided in a single phase, mitigate irritation of the skin and eyes, and are not corrosive to soft metals such as aluminum.